In many wireless networks, multi-user diversity gain and fairness are achieved through the use of proportional fairness scheduling (PFS). In providing this type of scheduling, the packet scheduler generally schedules the user with the highest priority as determined based on a ratio of the instantaneous capacity for the user versus the average throughput for the user as compared to the same ratio for the other users. However, using conventional PFS, the packet scheduler typically schedules a user substantially at the ascending side of the channel fading curve for the user and rarely at the descending side. Thus, this type of scheduling results in serving the user in suboptimal conditions during nearly half of the best opportunities for the user and may result in low throughput. Therefore, there is a need in the art for improved scheduling in wireless networks.